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but she was overwhelmed by the sermons of Bernardino Ochino of Sienna;^[1] she was the friend of Pietro Carnesecchi,^[2] Giberti, Sadoleto, the noble Reginald Pole, and of the greatest of these reforming prelates, who constituted in 1536 the Collegium de emendandâ Ecclesiâ—namely, Cardinal Gaspare Contarini,^[3] who tried in vain,

themselves around him. He published numerous works, the chief of which were the "Cento et dieci divine considerazioni" (Basle 1550) and an "Aviso sobre los interpretes de la Sagrada Escritura." He believed in justification through faith alone, and subordinated instruction by the Bible to illumination by the Holy Spirit. He died in 1541. It is said that he had more than three thousand followers in Naples.

1. Bernardino Ochino, a great preacher and the Vicar-General of the Capucines in 1539, became the friend of Valdès, who came under his influence. In spite of denunciations, he continued his audacious sermons at Naples, Rome, and Venice, upheld by the people against the interdiction of the Church, until 1542, when, on the point of being punished as a Lutheran, he fled from Florence to Ferrara, and then to Geneva, where he became a Protestant. He was an intimate friend of Vittoria Colonna, and when about to leave Italy announced his resolution to her in a confidential letter.
2. Pietro Carnesecchi, of Florence, prothonotary of Clement VII., the friend and disciple of Valdès, was summoned before the Inquisition in 1546 and was burnt in Rome in 1567. He remained in relations with Vittoria Colonna until her death.
3. Gaspare Contarini, the member of a great Venetian family, was first Venetian Ambassador at the Court of Charles V., in the Netherlands, in Germany, and in Spain, and then, from 1528 to 1530, at the Court of Clement VII. He was appointed a Cardinal by Paul III. in 1535, and was legate in 1541 at the Diet of Ratisbonne. He did not succeed in coming to an understanding with the Protestants and he came under the suspicion of Catholics. He returned, discouraged, and died at Bologna in August 1542. He was the author of numerous works, such as "De immortalitate animæ," "Compendium primæ philosophiæ," and a treatise on "Justification," in which he came very near Protestant ideas concerning the question of grace.